Overcrowded housing in First Nations ‘nothing new’: Regional Chief
By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: NWOnewswatch.com
Ontario First Nations leaders continue to push for resources to improve housing.
That’s according to Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict, who helped open the 23rd edition of the First Nations Housing Conference on Tuesday.
“Before the tariff war that has impacted … the economy in different ways, the Government of Canada was grappling with a housing shortage,” he said. “And, sadly, for many of our communities, the housing shortage, inadequate housing, overcrowded housing is nothing new.”
“We’ve had a crisis in our communities for a very long time.”
The conference brings together community leaders, housing managers, government funding agencies, builders and maintenance people, industry representatives and more to work to improve housing in First Nations through an Indigenous-led lens.
Benedict said gathering such a wide range of expertise in one place is a chance to learn and “to talk about the opportunities and the resilience that we have, together.”
Overall, though, he said making way on ensuring First Nations have the same standard of essentials like housing, clean water and electricity, “it seems like we’re continuing to push a boulder up a hill.”
Statistics published by Canada’s auditor general back the regional chief’s statement.
A 2024 report cited a study from three years prior by the Assembly of First Nations that found, Canada-wide, closing the housing gap (the state of housing as it existed in 2021 versus what is needed) was $44 billion.
That includes over 55,000 new units for homes that need replacement and to address overcrowding, another 78,000 new units for members returning to First Nations, repairing over 80,000 existing units, and providing services like water, wastewater and electricity to 112,000 lots.
“The report also estimated that an additional $16 billion would be needed for future housing needs related to population growth from 2022 to 2040,” the auditor general’s findings said.
The auditor general did also note that subsequent work by the Assembly of First Nations and Indigenous Services Canada found that $44 billion figure had roughly tripled due to inflation, significant increases in construction costs and additional factors that had not been previously considered, like climate change adaptation, energy efficiency and other maintenance.
Benedict also pointed to the importance of ensuring housing supports for members both on and off-reserve.
“It’s difficult to meet the needs in the community, it’s much more difficult to meet the needs of members outside of the community,” he said. “But they’re equally important parts of our nations.”
“Many of them want to be in our community but can’t for a lot of reasons.”
In his speech, Benedict referenced infrastructure improvements that senior levels of government have promised will happen alongside resource development in areas like the Ring of Fire “which are important to all of us.”
“But making sure that we’re doing that responsibly, we’re also making sure when we’re doing that, we’re doing that with community safety, community wellness at the front.”
“We want to make sure that we’re not compromising our jurisdiction, the jurisdiction of our communities and the sovereignty of our community in advance of that.”
